The ''Daily News'', historically a successor of ''The Inquirer'' and ''The Inquirer and Commercial News'', was an afternoon daily English language newspaper published in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia, from 1882 to 1990, though its origin is traceable from 1840.

History

One of the early newspapers of the

Western Australian Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

colony was ''

The Inquirer ''The Inquirer'' (stylized as TheINQUIRER) was a British technology tabloid website founded by Mike Magee after his departure from ''The Register'' (of which he was one of the founding members) in 2001. In 2006 the site was acquired by Dutch ...

'', established by Francis Lochee and William Tanner on 5 August 1840. Lochee became sole proprietor and editor in 1843 until May 1847 when he sold the operation to the paper's former compositor Edmund Stirling. In July 1855, ''The Inquirer'' merged with the recently established ''Commercial News and Shipping Gazette'', owned by

Robert John Sholl Robert John Sholl (16 July 1819 – 19 June 1886) was a government administrator, magistrate, explorer, journalist, entrepreneur, harbourmaster, customs official, postmaster and lay reader in Western Australia (WA), during the colonial era. Be ...

, as ''

The Inquirer & Commercial News ''The Inquirer & Commercial News'' was a newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia from 1855 to 1901. In May 1847, Edmund Stirling acquired ''The Inquirer'' from Francis Lochée, who established the paper in August 1840 together with Will ...

''. It ran under the joint ownership of Stirling and Sholl. Sholl departed and, from April 1873, the paper was produced by Stirling and his three sons, trading as Stirling & Sons. Edmund Stirling retired five years later and his three sons took control as Stirling Bros and Co, Ltd. Stirling Bros launched the ''Daily News'' on 26 July 1882. After 28 June 1901 ''The Inquirer & Commercial News'' was incorporated into the ''Daily News''.

1980–1990

Competition from television evening news resulted in losses in circulation and eventual cessation of most Australian afternoon newspapers. The ''Daily News'' came to be a wholly owned subsidiary of West Australian Newspapers (WAN), formerly itself a subsidiary of the Melbourne-based

Herald and Weekly Times ''The Herald and Weekly Times'' Pty Ltd (HWT) is a newspaper publishing company based in Melbourne, Australia. It is owned and operated by News Pty Ltd, which as News Ltd, purchased the HWT in 1987. Newspapers The HWT's newspaper interests dat ...

organisation. In the late 1980s, WAN was acquired by the ill-fated

Bond Corporation Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s; the biggest corporate co ...

's subsidiary the Bell Group. In 1986, Holmes à Court sold the ''Daily News'' to a small company headed by businessman Simon Hadfield. The newspaper moved to a renovated pie factory on the outskirts of the CBD. Its last issue was on 11 September 1990. Former staff hold 5-yearly reunions. On 2 May 1990, British publishing magnate

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster. After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...

's UK-based

Mirror Group Reach plc (known as Trinity Mirror between 1999 and 2018) is a British newspaper, magazine and internet journalism, digital publisher. It is one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, publishing 240 regional papers in addition to the national ' ...

bought 14.9 per cent of Bell from the group's managing director, David Aspinall. However, the deal did not proceed, being opposed by the federal government under its media foreign ownership policy. The

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government or the Western Australian Governmen ...

legislated to retrospectively place the ''Daily News'' beyond the jurisdiction of the (federal)

Trade Practices Commission The Trade Practices Commission was an agency of the Government of Australia responsible for monitoring and enforcement activities under the Trade Practices Act 1974. It was superseded by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission in 1995.< ...

—a move which the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

Opposition condemned as prejudicial to Commonwealth-State relations. The paper was then defunct and in receivership, owing over $15 million, mainly to ''The West Australian'' for production costs. WAN was the subject of a successful stock-market float in 1992, following closure of the ''Daily News''.

Notable former journalists

Alfred Carson Alfred Carson OBE (7 November 1859 – 24 August 1944) was an Australian journalist and social worker. Biography Carson was born at Upper Swan in Western Australia to wheelwright George Carson and Charlot, ''née'' Hadley. After attending gover ...

John Cornell John Cornell (2 March 1941 – 23 July 2021) was an Australian actor, director, producer, writer, and businessman. He was best known for his role as "Strop" on '' The Paul Hogan Show'', and he was instrumental in the introduction of World Seri ...

James Cruthers Sir James Winter Cruthers (20 December 1924 – 13 October 2015) was an Australian media business Senior management, executive and philanthropist. Early life and career Cruthers was born in 1924 and was educated at Claremont, Western Australia ...

Frank Devine Frank Devine (17 December 1931 – 3 July 2009) was a New Zealand–born Australian newspaper editor and journalist. Devine was born in the South Island city of Blenheim and started his career there aged 17 as a cadet on the ''Marlborough Ex ...

(editor, ''Weekend News'') *

Boronia Lucy (Bonnie) Giles Boronia Lucy "Bonnie" Giles (née Sanderson; 25 August 25, 1909 – 2 May 1978) was an Australian journalist who wrote under the pen names Mary Ferber, Auntie Nell and Peg Pegotty. Mary Ferber's advice column in Perth's ''Daily News'' ran for twe ...

aka Mary Ferber (1909–1978) *

Kim Hagdorn Kim John Hagdorn (born 8 April 1955) is a former first-class cricketer and Australian sports journalist. Cricket career Hagdorn was selected as a right-arm medium-fast bowler and played the opening match for the West Australian first-class cric ...

* Bill Lang (senior reporter and back page columnist – "Lang's Look") * Alan Langoulant (cartoonist) *

Arthur Lovekin Arthur Lovekin (12 November 1859 – 10 December 1931) was an Australian journalist, newspaper proprietor, and politician. He had a long association with '' The Daily News'' in Perth, Western Australia, initially as editor and later as owner. H ...

Amanda Platell Amanda Jane Platell (born 12 November 1957) is an Australian journalist. Between 1999 and 2001 she was the press secretary to William Hague, the then leader of the British Conservative Party. She is currently based in the UK. Personal life P ...

Paul Rigby Paul Crispin Rigby AM (25 October 1924 – 15 November 2006) was an Australian cartoonist who worked for newspapers in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. He usually worked under the name Rigby. Early life Rigby was born in S ...

(cartoonist) *

Kirwan Ward Edward Bernard Kirwan Ward (2 April 1909 – 5 March 1983) was a journalist most notable for his work with the '' Daily News'' in Perth, Western Australia. Early life Kirwan Ward was born in Shotover, Oxfordshire one of eight children of Norman ...

Illustrations

In November 1893, William John Hardy joined the Daily News as the first pictorial engraver in the state. His first engraving was of Reverend Dr Llewelyn D. Bevan. Prior to Mr Hardy's arrival illustrations were sourced from Melbourne and Sydney. By late 1894 photographic processes replaced illustrating the news with engraved works.

Publication details

The ''Daily News'' was published from 26 July 1882 to 11 September 1990. The paper incorporated the ''Morning Herald'' from 6 July 1886 and the ''Inquirer and Commercial News'' from 28 June 1901. A Saturday edition ran from 6 August 1960 to 29 March 1986, titled ''Weekend News.'' From 19 February 1966 to 3 April 1971 there was an additional Saturday colour supplement, titled ''Weekend Magazine.'' Other supplements include: * ''Fremantle News'', 28 April 1949 to 7 April 1971 * ''Fremantle-Cockburn News'', 14 April 1971 to 24 May 1984 * ''North of the River News'', 2 December 1959 to 22 February 1961 * ''Metro'', March 1987 to April 1987, a 16-page colour supplement in Wednesday's ''Daily News.''

Availability

Issues (1882–1950) of this newspaper have been digitised as part of the

Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text documen ...

, a project of the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

in cooperation with the

State Library of Western Australia The State Library of Western Australia is a research, education, reference and public lending library located in the Perth Cultural Centre in Perth, Western Australia. It is a portfolio agency of the Western Australia Department of Local Gover ...

. Hard copy and microfilm copies of the Daily News are also available at the State Library of Western Australia.

References

External links

*Available at

Trove Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text documen ...

: ** ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Daily News, The Newspapers established in 1882 Defunct newspapers published in Perth, Western Australia 1882 establishments in Australia 1990 disestablishments in Australia Daily newspapers published in Australia